The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has published today on its website a summary results report of an extensive audit of mobile networks in Qatar that was conducted from September to December 2019. The CRA conducted this annual audit with a view to ensure that the quality of mobile voice and data services are consistent with the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) required to be provided to the consumers in Qatar by the telecom service providers “Ooredoo Qatar” and “Vodafone Qatar”, and that quality of mobile services are in line with the applicable regulatory framework and the terms and conditions of the licenses granted by the CRA to the service providers. This kind of annual audit helps in assessing the improvements of the quality of mobile service levels offered by the service providers in Qatar.
The measurement methodology of the last year network audit included testing samples that were collected from different areas in Qatar during the peak hours of working days. Measurements covered main roads and highways, major pedestrian areas as well as several indoor locations. For that purpose, the CRA used its Quality of Service (QoS) systems, which are considered as most advanced systems in the region, in addition to the latest versions of devices and smartphones, to obtain results that reflect the consumers’ experience in the mobile services in Qatar.
“In continuation of CRA’s efforts to ensure that the consumers in Qatar have access to reliable and high-quality services, the CRA published its annual report after a series of analysis and verification of all data collected during the field measurements, and after being processed and extensively discussed with the service providers. Last year audit results indicate that the service providers continue in maintaining the high standards of accessibility, retainability and integrity of the services offered to its consumers and in improving their capability to provide higher data throughputs from the year before. As a result, we witnessed during this year a high-level performance of telecom networks, especially during the previous period associated with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19),” said His Excellency Mohammed Ali Al-Mannai, President of CRA.
“Since the CRA was established in 2014, the CRA keep on developing proper regulatory instruments to ensure the development of highest standard mobile and fixed telecom networks and infrastructures, which the same contributes to fostering the development of the telecom sector and the provision of high-quality telecom services for all the consumers in Qatar. To this end, the CRA continuously monitors service providers compliance with respect to the terms and conditions of their licenses as well as with the applicable regulatory framework. I would like to thank the telecom service providers for their efforts in adopting new technologies and constantly modernizing their networks, to ensure providing the consumers in Qatar with advanced, reliable and high-quality services,” he added.
CRA affirmed after publishing the summary results of the extensive QoS audit that the purpose of the audit was not to identify the best network or do a comparison between the service providers in Qatar. The CRA emphasized that the audit’s findings should not be used for any purpose that does not serve the required value of the report, such as promoting the best service provider or taking a part or parts of the report to be used in a way that it may abuse another service provider, or to use the audit’s findings in a way that may be misleading or inaccurate considering the scope of the audit.
The summary of the results report of QoS audit 2019 is available via this link.
It is worth to mention that the CRA is actively engaged in developing a forward-looking and customer-oriented QoS framework. In January 2020, the CRA published a public consultation to receive views and comments from stakeholders; consumers and telecom service providers, on the draft of this new QoS framework, including measurement methodologies and KPIs which are in line with international standards and best practices. Also, the CRA is now assessing the responses in view of a final draft of the future Regulation which will replace the existing service providers’ license obligations.
